Pattern mechanism



July 5, 1960 J. SIRMAY ETAL PATTERN MECHANISM Original-Filed June 21. 1954 EL E- N W Y w W. M W 5 N M ww 4 a N Y B 2,943,469 Patented July 5, 1960 PATTERN MECHANISM Julius Sir-may, Philadelphia, and David Bird Brinton, Merion Station, Pa., assignors to Scott and Williams, Inc, Laconia, N.H., a corporation of Massachusetts Original application June 21, 1954, Ser. No. 440,030, now Patent No. 2,854,834, dated Oct. 7, 1958. Divided and this application Aug. 12, 1957, Ser. No. 677,670

2 Claims. c1. 66156) The present invention relates generally to the art of knitting and more particularly to pattern control mechanism in the form of slotted selector drums or trick wheels having selectively positionable jacks in the slots, the jacks being movable to and operative at a plurality of positions.

The present application is a division of our application Serial No. 440,030, filed June 21, 1954, for Knitting Machines, now US. Patent No. 2,854,834, issued Octoher 7, 1958.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a selector drum or [trick wheel comprising a slotted cylindrical member having like selecting jacks slidably movable in the slots, as required, to a plurality of selecting positions where they are yieldingly held by an encircling garter spring. The arrangement is such that the same jacks may be readily positioned and re-positioned along the slots to provide changes in the selective action of the trick wheel.

The objects of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description .of the embodiment of the trick wheel illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and as set forth in the claims.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a side elevational view of the trick wheel and jacks of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the trick wheel shown in Fig. l; and

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the trick wheel taken on line 33 of 'Fig. 1.

The trick wheel, or selector drum, of the present application is shown being used as a selective pattern control device in a striper assembly in the parent application, however, it will be obvious that the trick wheel is inherently capable of being used as a pattern control device generally in connection with other functions of knitting machinery.

The trick wheel, indicated at 90, comprising a relatively short cylinder, is suitably slidably keyed, as at 91, to a short shaft 92 extending through the trick wheel and adapted to be raised and lowered relative thereto. The trick wheel 90 is seated on and is adapted to rotate about an internal stationary circular plug 93 which is seated in any suitable base member 86 where it is held by a suitable set screw 94. The base member 86, in the parent application, is a part of the sniper assembly.

The trick wheel may be rotatably secured to the plug 93 by means of a screw 95 having a reduced end portion adapted to travel in a circular plug groove 96. The outer peripheral portion of the trick wheel is provided with a scrim of equally spaced longitudinally extending slots, here shown as twelve in number, into each of which a sliding elongated jack 98 is adapted to be placed. The jacks 98 are each provided with a single protruding butt 99 at one end thereof and with a series of four spaced grooves 100, the jacks being held in place in the trick Wheel slots 97 by a garter spring 101 which encircles the trick wheel and fits into a suitably formed annular groove in the outer face of the trick wheel near the upper end thereof.

The jacks 98 are adapted to be raised and lowered manually to the desired level for control purposes and are held as positioned by the garter spring which fits into the appropriate ones of the jack grooves 100, see Fig. 3.

The short shaft 92 in its lowered position of Fig. 3, where it is yieldingly maintained by a suitably positioned spring pressed ball 106 in the upper of two annular grooves 107 in the shaft 92, is adapted to turn the trick wheel, while the shafit 92 in its upper position of Fig. l, where it is yieldingly maintained by the ball 106 in the lower groove 107, is not in position to turn the trick Wheel 90. The ball 106 is spring pressed by a suitable set-screw-positioned-spring located in the base 86 and extending through a suitable aperture in plug 93. The shaft 92, when lowered, is in driven relationship with an aligned drive shaft 108, the interconnection between the shafts being made by a rectangular shaped key 109, formed at the lower end of the shaft 92, which fits into a slotted keyway 110 formed in the upper end of the shaft 108. The shafts are kept aligned, even when in non-driving relation, by a pin 111 formed at the terminal end of the shaft 92 which is adapted to enter a suitable bore 112 the upper end of the shaft 108, the length of the pin 11.1 and the bore 112 being such that contact is maintained regardless of the vertical position of the shaft 92. It will be seen, Fig. l, with the shaft *92 in its upper position, that the key 109 will be out of the keyway 110 and that turning of the shaft 108 will not turn the trick wheel 90. Thus, at any desired time, the trick wheel may be retained in any position thereof by raising the shaft 92 to its upper position, or by raising the shaft 92 the trick wheel may be turned to a new position.

The shaft 108 may be selectively indexed in the manner set forth in the parent application in order to index the trick wheel, or, obviously, may be selectively indexed in any other desirable manner.

The control function of the trick wheel 90 is provided by positioning the individual jacks 98 and their butts 99 at the several levels, as desired. It will be understood that the butts 99, at the several levels, will provide selective action upon the desired portion of the knitting machine to be selectively controlled thereby, as the trick wheel is indexed. While the jacks 98 have been shown as having four retaining grooves and single butts 99, it will be understood that the invention is not so limited and that a greater or lesser number of grooves and a greater number of butts may be provided, if so desired. The same jacks may be positioned and re positioned along the slots to provide new selections for the trick wheel.

We claim:

1. A trick wheel adapted to selectively control instrumentalities of a knitting machine in accordance with selecting data of said trick wheel, said trick wheel comprising a cylindrical member having a plurality of like manually positionable jacks associated therewith, like portions of said jacks providing said selecting data, and a garter spring encircling said member to secure said jacks in each of a plurality of fixed positions relative to said member .to thereby provide .the selecting data of said trick wheel, said spring being located in a peripherally formed groove in said member and said jacks having a plurality of grooves each of which is adapted to be placed in registry with said peripheral groove, said plurality of grooves being equal in number to said plurality of fixed positions, the said spring permitting said jacks to be selectively and manually moved to each of said fixed positions.

2. A trick wheel adapted to selectively control instrumentalities of a knitting machine in accordance with selecting data of said trick wheel, said trick wheel comprising a cylindrical member having a plurality of like manually positionable jacks associated therewith, like portions of said jacks providing said selecting data, a garter spring encircling said member to secure said jacks in each of a plurality of fiX-ed postions relative to said member to thereby provide the selecting data of said trick wheel, and means adapted to prevent movement of said spring axially of said member, each of said jacks having a plurality of grooves each of which is adapted to receive said spring therein to thereby maintain said jacks in said fixed positions, said plurality of grooves being equal in number to said plurality of fixed positions, the said spring permitting said jacks to be se- 41 lectively and manually movable to each of said fixed positions.

References (Iited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,780,328 Ames Nov. 4, 1930 1,846,690 Page Feb. 23, 1932 1,902,903 Sanders Mar. 28, 1933 1,987,022 Mate et al. Jan. 8, 1935 2,007,573 Kurdt et al July 9, 1935 2,008,810 Agulnek July 23, 1935 2,208,698 Lawson July 23, 1940 

